Hurricanes and other extreme weather conditions cause many millions of dollars of damage to property each year. The most common damage to buildings by such events is the "loss" of the roof, which exposes the building interior and contents to water and wind damage. Many attempts have been made over the years to limit the damage to the roofs of buildings due to hurricane-force winds, but such attempts have not proven successful or commercially feasible. For example, the roof could be removed or partially removed and reinforced using improved mechanical fastening systems. But such methods would cost each homeowner thousands of dollars and mechanical fasteners have not proven satisfactory. The urgent need for a solution to this serious problem therefore remains.
A typical roof construction generally includes equally spaced rafters or truss members which are supported and attached to the upper structure of the building, above the attic, for example, in a typical home construction. The rafters may pitch upwardly and be secured to a ridgeboard, forming a triangular or "peaked" roof, or the rafters may extend horizontally forming a flat roof. Alternatively, triangular or rectangular engineered trusses may be used as the roof support. Roof boards or panels are then attached to the transverse spaced support members, that is, the rafters or the upper chords of the engineered roof trusses, generally by driving nails through the roof panels into the support members. Roof boards may be used or panels, such as 4'.times.8' sheets of plywood sheathing, fiberboard or the like. For ease of description, the term panels will be used hereinafter to include roof boards or larger panels, such as the 4'.times.8' sheathing typically used in home constructions. The roofing, which generally includes roof tiles or shingles, is then secured on the roof panels.
A hurricane, for example, may create uplift forces or a vacuum in excess of 100 lbs./sq. ft., tearing the nailed roof panels from the support members. Nails or screws are not able to withstand such uplift forces. Glues and various adhesives and additional mechanical fasteners have also been tried without success under hurricane-force winds. It should also be noted that once one or a few roof panels are torn from the support members, the entire roof or a large portion of the roof may be torn from the structure. The exposed building interior and contents will then be subject to water and wind damage, which may exceed the cost of repairing or replacing the roof. There is, therefore, an urgent need for a method of reinforcing and securing the roof of a building against uplift forces such as encountered in hurricanes, particularly for existing building structures, preferably not requiring removal of the roof.